How to Convert a String to an Enum in C ?

Converting String to Enum in C

In C , there is no direct equivalent to C#'s Enum.Parse for converting strings to enums. One common solution is to use a switch statement, but for large enum lists, this approach becomes unwieldy.

Using a Map or Unordered Map

An elegant solution is to utilize a std::map or std::unordered_map to associate string keys with corresponding enum values. This allows for efficient lookup and retrieval.

std::unordered_map<std::string, MyEnum> enumMap {
    {"foo", MyEnum::Foo},
    {"bar", MyEnum::Bar}
};

To convert a string to an enum:

MyEnum myEnum = enumMap[myString];

Trivial Initialization with C 11

With C 11 and later, populating the map can be significantly simplified:

static std::unordered_map<std::string, MyEnum> const table = {
    {"a", MyEnum::a},
    {"b", MyEnum::b}
};

Then, to retrieve the enum value:

auto it = table.find(myString);
if (it != table.end()) {
    return it->second;
} else {
    // Handle error
}

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